Green envy: the study of green buildings and their effects on employee wellbeing.

Abstract

This research conducted a post-occupancy evaluation of a green building within Johannesburg, South Africa. The study focused on the impact of indoor environmental quality features (IEQ) in green buildings on employee health and wellbeing as opposed to conventional buildings. This study investigated the overall satisfaction of IEQ features within a 5-star GBCSA rated building as well as the impact that IEQ features had on employee wellbeing, which was analyzed as two separate variables, physical and emotional wellbeing. The sample consisted of 4557 participants with 749 matched participants from 2017 to 2018. In line with global literature, a statistically significant result was found with regards to IEQ satisfaction, across health, performance and overall satisfaction. Although the majority of green building research has found an increase in both physical and emotional wellbeing as a result of the improvement of indoor environmental quality, this study found a statistically significant increase in the physical wellbeing of employees, however, a non-significant increase in employees’ emotional wellbeing. Keywords: Green Building, Employee Health &Wellbeing, IEQ Features.